KOMAKINO – SOUNDOBLIVION Installation in Candy – Fake Tokyo

Underground London fashion institution and Tokyo street favorite Komakino has a long history with the iconic select shop Candy, dating well back before the shop’s move from 2 Chome Shinjuku to its current location in the Fake Tokyo building in Shibuya. Their ideology is also close match for Candy, being as it is founded on a genuine appreciation for club culture’s contribution to fashion and manages to repay that debt many times over with designs that encapsulate the unique sense of counterculture cult identity that the music and visual identity of the scene creates. Personally as someone who grew up in the UK during the boom years of the rave scene, it makes me pleasantly nostalgic and vaguely proud to see this scene that was almost ridiculed by the fashion establishment at the time come back and be welcomed into the high fashion world with open arms, not just through the level that directly acknowledges these influences like KOMAKINO, but right up to the likes of Rick Owens.

For those in Tokyo wanting to join the ranks of KOMAKINO there is an exhibition/installation happening next Saturday in Candy (details below) and, appropriately, a club night immediately after at Trump Room where the man behind the brand, Federico Capalbo will be taking the lead on the decks amongst others.

To get you in the mood, the rapidly incoming AW 2013-14 collection is below, packed with rave and trance culture references including the phat pants that give the silhouette a much appreciated twist by ironically bringing in one of the most fundamental shapes to the look. Elsewhere there are some great flashes of luxury courtesy of Scottish cashmere, next to the kind of quality detailing you just wish you had been able to buy in Camden (or in my case Afflecks Palace) back in the day.

I love the blank heraldic crests that feature throughout the collection, it goes beyond the idea of affiliation to fixed activism that counterculture is usually defined by and signals instead a more abstract ideal of the unity to be found in any subculture or counterculture movement.

Wherever you are on the planet you can shop Komakino at Fake Tokyo here and if you are in the city then make sure you come to the installation next Saturday – see you there.